1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to catheters. More particularly, this invention relates to guide catheters for introducing medical devices and/or therapeutic agents into a body of a patient.
2. State of the Art
Guide catheters are used in surgical applications to provide a passageway through which medical devices and/or therapeutic agents may be introduced within the body of a patient. In intravascular and coronary applications, such medical devices typically include balloon dilation catheters, guide wires or other therapeutic devices and the therapeutic agents typically include contrast media or other therapeutic fluids.
A guide catheter includes a follow shaft defining an inner channel through which the medical devices or agents are delivered once the shaft has been inserted into the body. The inner channel typically comprises a lubricous material such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), commonly known as TEFLON®, together with a metal braid surround and a flexible durable outer sheath. The outer sheath is typically formed from a polyether-block amide material marketed under the trademark PEBAX® which is commercially available from Atofina Chemicals Inc. of King of Prussia, Pa.
The shaft is typically manufactured by placing fluorinated ethylene-propylene (FEP) shrink tubing over an assembly that includes a mandrel with the PTFE inner channel, the metal braid surround, and the PEBAX® outer sheath. The assembly is heated to activate the FEP shrink tubing and melt the PEBAX® outer sheath. The FEP shrink tubing is then removed and discarded, and the mandrel is removed leaving the elongate shaft. The use of such FEP shrink tubing adds significant material costs to the guide catheter. Moreover, the labor and tooling required to remove the FEP shrink tubing adds significant manufacturing costs to the guide catheter.
Thus, there remains a need in the art to provide a guide catheter with lower material and manufacturing costs. The present invention fulfills these and other needs, and addresses other deficiencies of the prior art implementations and techniques.